I am the essence of overconfidence! I am speculation, adventure; the spirit of pursuit; the stag howling for its winsome yet anonymous mate. I am the love call of evolution; the perfume and color of the flowers as they offer their pollen to the gentle buzz of the bees.
I am sex itself, gentlemen. I am life. I am appetite!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal (Post Updated)

A true pioneer when it comes to women's liberation. One who lived ages before silly teenage girls who thought things like bop-cut, dot-less foreheads and telephone-after-10PM was an act of rebellion. The last of the 'female trinity' passes away at 91.

It is said that when Krishnaswamy saw a newspaper article carrying a photo of his daughter Pattamal, singing for a show 'SatyavanSavitri', he was devastated. Which respectable family would marry a brahmin girl who sung in front of others? When she performed in Egmore Ladies Club, it was probably the first ever time a brahmin woman sang in a public concert. People who wrote about her constantly mentioned that the crowd purely came to see this odd event of a woman singing in public. And then she went on to sing pallavis in a concert. A difficult art considered to be strictly limited to male carnatic musicians.

The reason I began to like Pattammal was because of the song "aduvomepallupaaduvome" in the timeless movie "NaamIruvar" (yes that movie with 3 billion songs) and for her rendition of Bharathiar songs. Bharathiar himself would not have envisioned his dreams on women's liberation come true in the form of an artist like Pattammal singing his songs. She said she didn't want another rebirth. Hope her wish came true.

silly teenage girls who thought things like bop-cut, dot-less foreheads and telephone-after-10PM was an act of rebellion

Why, even in an otherwise well-written, gracious and positive tribute to someone else, can you not resist the urge to take a piss on someone? A privileged momma's (and grandmomma's ;) I loved that post ) boy like you can never understand the subjugation certain girls face even today. For whom trendy haircuts and late night phone calls are privileges earned after a lot of pleading and haggling.

Please don't sully the memory of the great woman by throwing in this petty jibe.

Podhigai impresses me more and more. If anyone wants to watch real news aka Hindu types (Madras edition) without any important breaking news that Amitabh Bachan farted and Asin fainted, please go to DD. I am sick and tired of these -ve IQ VJs in most of these Sun, Raj, Vijay channels.

Life In General

The BSchool Journey

School & Childhood Related

On Marriage

Mad about Madras

Religion/Philosophy

Indian History

Culinary Corner

Sticky Wicket

Festivals

Travels

Politics

Complaint Section

About Me

Hawkeye somehow managed to get educated, switch careers from engineering to business and secure gainful employment. He got employed because he failed to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming a house husband. He does not believe in luck but thinks he is the most unluckiest man in the world (read disclaimer). Such self-contradictory thoughts continue to separate the author from reality. He claims he can 'do humor' because he cant be taken seriously.Hawkeye is a nomad, a wanderer who has studied in more schools and lived in more places than he cares to remember. He has travelled to many many states within India and has seen almost all the important vacation spots. He constantly tries to bring in "I went to switzerland for my honeymoon" in unrelated conversations (like this one) and hopes to visit all the other countries in Europe. Loves to visit and learn historical information about Indian Temples. He is ramping up on the ancient metaphysical philosphy called Vishishta-Advaitha ( Qualified Non-Dualism) and loves to talk about it with anybody who claims to be an expert.